Psychoactive Substances and Paranormal Phenomena: A Comprehensive Review

This paper investigates the relationship between psychoactive substances and so-called paranormal phenomena falling within the study of parapsychology. It is primarily concerned with extrasensory perception (ESP)—telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance—as well as out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs). Psychokinesis (PK), aura vision, encounter experiences, and sleep paralysis only make a very limited contribution to this review as they are seldom related to psychoactive drugs within the parapsychological literature. It is organized into neurochemical models of paranormal experience (section 1), field reports of intentional and spontaneous phenomena incorporating anthropological, historical and clinical cases, and personal accounts (section 2), surveys of paranormal belief and experience (section 3), experimental research (section 4), and a methodological critique of the experimental research with recommendations for further work (section 5).

Ayahuasca, DMTArtful AlchemyJanuary 8, 2020Parapsychopharmacology, Paraspsychology, Psychology, Anthropology, Psychedelics, LSD, Ayahuasca, DMT, Ketamine, MDMA, Mescaline, Psilocybin, Psi, Near Death Experience, 2CB, Shamanism, Consciousness, Datura, Stanislav Grof

Book Review: Inner Paths to Outer Space - Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics

“The Spirit Molecule documented the whole experimental process whereby over 60 participants received a combined total of 400 doses of DMT. It concluded with the theory that the near-death experience (NDE) is caused by the action of DMT in the pineal gland, where Strassman speculates it is made because DMT is known to occur naturally in the human body. The book currently under review, Inner Paths to Outer Space, is the natural sequel to that book in that it considers the DMT-induced entity encounters and alien abduction-like experiences from Strassman’s research in further depth, particularly in the contexts of quantum physics, science fiction and shamanism, proposing that access to alien worlds in outer space occurs in the inner space of the psyche…”

DMTArtful AlchemyJanuary 2, 2020Book Review, Psychedelics, Paraspsychology, Transpersonal Psychology, Shamanism, Consciousness, Entheogens, DMT, Anthropology, Psilocybin